Some background: While 911 services have been able to locate landline users for decades, cell phone location is much more difficult to determine, causing delays for emergency responders. Current positioning estimates can be hundreds of yards wide. Lowering response times by just one minute could save up to 10,000 lives annually.

The news: Apple is collaborating with RapidSOS, a startup that makes technology that pulls location information from smartphones directly into 911 call center software. An operating system update later this year will put this program on all iPhones. With this update, all iPhone users calling 911 will also immediately send the call center their location.

Apple isn’t alone: Google is experimenting with similar software. Its tests have been able to drill down to an accuracy of 121 feet.

Why it matters: This partnership will help update US emergency response systems which are still rooted in the landline age. Getting device makers on board is a big step toward getting them into the 21st century, saving lives in the process.

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Erin WinickI am MIT Technology Review’s space reporter. I am particularly interested in the technology that enables space exploration, as well as space-based manufacturing, spurring from my background in mechanical engineering. I produce our space tech e-mail newsletter, The Airlock, your gateway to emerging space technologies. I previously served as Technology Review’s associate editor of the future of work. Before joining the publication I worked as a freelance science writer, founded the 3-D printing company Sci Chic, and interned at the Economist. Get in touch at erin.winick@technologyreview.com.

Erin WinickI am MIT Technology Review’s space reporter. I am particularly interested in the technology that enables space exploration, as well as space-based manufacturing, spurring from my background in mechanical engineering. I produce our space tech e-mail newsletter, The Airlock, your gateway to emerging space technologies. I previously served as Technology Review’s associate editor of the future of work. Before joining the publication I worked as a freelance science writer, founded the 3-D printing company Sci Chic, and interned at the Economist. Get in touch at erin.winick@technologyreview.com.